The man in the picture is Graham Lim, the Secretary-General of the Basketball Association of the Philippines, and the Great Satan of Philippine basketball. He is the man responsible for putting the Philippines back on the road to international basketball perdition.

Yesterday, officials of the Samahang Basketball ng Pilipinas, the country's governing body for basketball, denounced the decision of the International Basketball Federation (Fiba) to create a special commission to mediate between the SBP and BAP as to which organization should be recognized as the country's national basketball federation.

The roster of SBP officials who attended the announcement served to underline the graveness of the issue: SBP President (and PLDT Chairman) Manny Pangilinan, SBP Vice President (and Talk N Text PBA board governor) Ricky Vargas, PBA Chairman Joaqui Trillo, PBL Chairman Mikee Romero, NCAA Mancom member Bernie Atienza, and SBP Director Noli Eala all took time out of their busy schedules to denounce the Fiba move.

This is the latest move in the power struggle between the BAP, a group that has evolved into a collection of hacks and racketeers, and the SBP, who are composed of the biggest stakeholders of the sport in the country such as the PBA, the PBL, the UAAP, the NCAA, et. al. And Graham Lim is the man behind the moves to discredit the SBP and have BAP reinstalled once again.

It's a long story, but here's what we know about Graham Lim and the BAP:

1995 - Lim becomes part of the BAP as an appointee of Freddie Jalasco, the former son-in-law of ex-President Fidel Ramos, after Jalasco uses his connections to unseat long-time BAP President Gonzalo "Lito" Puyat. Lim slowly builds up his influence by currying favor with local politicians and Fiba officials abroad. Part of his modus operandi was to organize basketball tournaments to promote local politicians, and invite Fiba officials to go on junket trips to these tournaments.

2001 - When Lim and Jalasco have a falling out, Lim throws his support behind Tiny Literal, who was subsequently elected BAP President, after years of fighting against Jalasco. Lim's faction also battles against Puyat for control over the federation, but win out eventually. Lim spends the next few years controlling the BAP, steadily increasing his clout. During this period, the BAP becomes notorious for organizing shitty basketball teams to play in various international tournaments, with little regard for the teams' quality. It should be noted that however bad the national team might be, sponsorship money was still easy to find because it still was the national team.

2005 - It all blows up in Lim's face when a lowly ragtag squad composed of ex-pros and mediocre amateurs, the Paranaque Jets, beats the national team in a game. Philippine Olympic Committee Chairman Peping Cojuangco, who was not particularly fond of Lim, moves to suspend the BAP and supports efforts led by the PBA to form a new national basketball federation. Lim raises the issue to Fiba, who decides to bar the Philippines from competing internationally while leadership of the country's basketball program was still in dispute. Lim's group replaces Literal, who had merely been a figurehead, and elected Joey Lina to be BAP President.

October 2006 - Lina and Atienza lead the negotiations for unity to end the ban, with both parties choosing Pangilinan to be the third member of the panel. The three men come to terms to form the SBP, but Lina abruptly resigns after Lim and his cohorts find the terms to be unacceptable, thus prolonging the impasse.

January 2007 - Looking for a new figurehead, Lim tricks Sen. Jinggoy Estrada into accepting the position. Even though we all know that Jinggoy is not the sharpest tool in the shed, he quickly comes around to the SBP's position after a series of meetings with Pangilinan. Jinggoy tells the BAP to accept the SBP's terms, so Lim and his band of idiots fire him and appoints Go Teng Kok president.

February 2007 - Representatives of the BAP and the SBP come to terms in a Bangkok meeting presided by Fiba Secretary-General Patrick Baumann, paving the way for the formation of the BAP-SBP. Fiba lifts its ban on the Philippines, allowing the PBA-backed national team coached by Chot Reyes to contend in the SEABA Championships and the Fiba-Asia Championships. The peace did not last long, as the BAP complained that their "member-organizations" were not being given proper accreditation by the new organization, leading to disenfranchisement. Most of the organizations the BAP submitted for recognition were paper organizations that have not held tournaments for years.

June 2008 - With the SBP national congress scheduled for June 12, the BAP held its own congress, electing Luis Villafuerte chairman and Prospero Pichay president, showing you that the BAP is concerned with nothing but quality leadership. They also file a motion to stop the SBP elections, but this is denied. The BAP sues the SBP to nullify the results of this election.

September 2008 - The Manila Regional Trial Court orders that the June 12 SBP elections be declared null and void.

October 2008 - The Court of Appeals overturns the Manila RTC decision and affirms the SBP position. Fiba applauds the decision and recognizes the SBP as the legitimate sports federation for basketball in the Philippines.

June 2009 - Due to the maneuverings of Lim and Go, the Fiba decides to form a special committee to investigate the SBP, and summons its officials to a meeting in Geneva. The SBP denounces the summon.

What does this mean for Philippine basketball? There is the looming possibility of the Fiba suspending the Philippines again. It would be a tragedy, as the country's best basketball players, the Powerade Team Pilipinas, are scheduled to compete this August in China in the Fiba-Asia Championships, to try to qualify for a slot in next year's World Basketball Championships. It could also put a wrench in the training for the Smart Gilas RP Team, the country's national basketball development team aiming to qualify for the 2012 Olympics.

After the jump, the statement of the SBP on the current mess.

So maybe giving Manny Pacquiao a position as a government spy wasn't such a bad idea. Philippine Sports Commission Chairman Harry Angping on Friday announced plans for the government, including the Philippine Army (where Pacquiao is a reservist) and the Philippine National Police, to engage the separatist Moro Islamic Liberation Front in a boxing tournament.

(Quick tangent: it was pretty hard to come up with an appropriate image on the Internet for a group whose abbreviated name reads 'MILF'. Try doing that on Google Image Search with SafeSearch off sometime.)

On the surface, it is a good idea; all over the world, sports has been used as a vehicle to thaw icy relations and to give people a breather from the ravages of war. Israelis and Palestinians have co-existed on the basketball court, football has served as a common language from refugees all over the world, and pingpong was famously instrumental in paving the way for Richard Nixon's visit to Communist China.

But then again, consider the guy behind the idea. Angping, a former Manila congressman, was appointed to his post back in January, and immediately got into different quarrels with members of the Philippine Olympic Committee. Things got so bad that by March, POC President Peping Cojuangco asked President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo to remove Angping. Angping battled back with support from Malacanang and from NSAs currently embroiled in feuds with POC leadership. Now, the whole Philippine sports scene is in total disarray, with various national sports associations taking sides between Angping and Cojuangco.

So we've got a politician proposing to use sports as a tool for peace and understanding, even as that same politician cannot even promote peace and understanding in the local sporting community. I wonder if Harry Angping ever read Shakespeare, because then he can drink up the sweet irony of it all.